Sunny Garcia, a long-time professional surfer, was hospitalized, the World Surf League announced on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

The league confirmed "with a heavy heart" that Garcia was admitted to the intensive care unit in an unspecified hospital amid speculation about his condition Monday night. Hawaiian, 49, won the Triple Crown of Surfing – which consists of three hard races off the coast of Oahu – six times, the last in 2004.

"Sunny has always been a great champion of surfing, both in and out of the water," said the Surf League World wrote on Twitter. "Our prayers accompany him, as well as his loved ones, at this extremely difficult time."

The WSL did not specify what had led to the hospitalization of Garcia.

Garcia has been a professional surfer for over three decades and has become one of the most accomplished and best known representatives of Hawaii in the sport. He won the World Surf League World Championship in 2000, under the name of the Surf Professionals Association, and he was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @ Tom_Schad.